MS Finance

[meetvabby]

Hi,
Can someone provide me info as to what is the job scenario in USA after MS Finance? I have a work ex of more than 2 years in the IT industry and would like to join that course.

Life may not be the party we hoped for but as we are here we may dance as well.

Regards.

[caterpilar]

Hi meetvabby,
sorry but not clear which ms-fin. You are talking about,if its icfai then no way coz of conflict between aimr-icfai.
Rest depends on your luck n connections.
Tc.

[Tumtum]

Originally Posted by caterpilar

Hi meetvabby,
sorry but not clear which ms-fin. You are talking about,if its icfai then no way coz of conflict between aimr-icfai.
Rest depends on your luck n connections.
Tc.

Meet.

MS(Finance) is the ideal choice for techies like you who want to make it to a good profile job in an IB or a HF or a PE firm in the US/elsewhere but it depends to a great extent where you do it from.

There are some very reputed schools such as Haas Business School (Universitiy of California, Berkeley) or Carnegie Mellon University which give either an MS (Quantitative Finance) or even an MFE (Master's in Financial Engineering) and these degrees command great respect everywhere. However, be assured that if you are opting for quantitative finance/financial engineering, then it will be very quant intensive program and the job profiles that you will get into will also be likewise.

However, if you want a general finance masters degree then you may rather go for a CFA as it is a complete package and is treated at par or with better level of respect vis-a-vis a general master's in finance degree. My point here is that MS is best done with a specialization and not a generalization because for generalization, there already is an alternative which is much cheaper and which will not require you to give all the GRE/GMATs and put in 2 years of dedicated full time study.

Consider this option too ! Cheers !

[meetvabby]

Hey thanks for the info but i m looking for MS finance in comparison to MBA. I am currently preparing for GMAT as most of the universities abroad are looking for a GMAT score but i have heard that after MS Finance it is difficult for an international student to get a job in USA. Is it true? Also if some1 can provide me a list of universities which i can consider for MS in finance it will be helpful. For other distinctions like quantitaive finance and finance engineering what is the difference and what are its entry requirements?

[BaBu]

Hey thanks for the info but i m looking for MS finance in comparison to MBA. I am currently preparing for GMAT as most of the universities abroad are looking for a GMAT score but i have heard that after MS Finance it is difficult for an international student to get a job in USA. Is it true? Also if some1 can provide me a list of universities which i can consider for MS in finance it will be helpful. For other distinctions like quantitaive finance and finance engineering what is the difference and what are its entry requirements?

Yes International students are facing tough time in US due to last year limited H1B visas available. The other 20000 visas for masters students in US were also used up and many students had no option but to either come back to India or stay in US for 1 year on some other trainee visa.

Second problem is junior analyst and analyst jobs are getting outsourced to India in a KPO model. US will need fewer analyst in the next few years as all the basic entry level work will be outsourced to India.

There is no point in spending your money in dollars to get education and then earning in rupees.

[Tumtum]

Originally Posted by BaBu

Yes International students are facing tough time in US due to last year limited H1B visas available. The other 20000 visas for masters students in US were also used up and many students had no option but to either come back to India or stay in US for 1 year on some other trainee visa.

Second problem is junior analyst and analyst jobs are getting outsourced to India in a KPO model. US will need fewer analyst in the next few years as all the basic entry level work will be outsourced to India.

There is no point in spending your money in dollars to get education and then earning in rupees.

I would differ a bit from Babu as far as the “analyst jobs being outsourced to India” and “spending money” part of the discussion is concerned.

My take: Agreed that analyst jobs are decreasing in US owing to success of the KPO/Captive units here in India and to top it, the financial mess in these IBanks will force them to further cost-cuts and outsource jobs to India but the fact is that these jobs are mainly for equity research/trading assistance/back-office documentation etc and as far as I know, such jobs are not the be all and end-all activities in Ibanks.

In a typical IBank, there are many many specialist positions for arbitraging/structuring (across asset classes)/quantitative analysis/hedging etc which require study of specialist subjects and MFE/MS (Quantitative Finance) score over the traditional qualifications in such situations.

Hence, I have always stressed the need for specializations and building specialized skill sets and specialized education such as courses mentioned above come in handy for the purpose.

For whatever of a bomb they may cost, they are worth their weight in gold because if you look at the placements that the graduates of these courses generate, then you will actually come to know how prestigious these courses are. Hence, I would advise you to lay your bets on specialized courses because there are always options for a generalization.

Hope this helps. Feel free to discuss more!

Babu, correct me if Im wrong or if you think differently.

Regards,

Tumtum.

[meetvabby]

Is the MS Finance course more generalized and the MS Quantitative Finance more specialized? What is the difference between these 2 courses? Also which universities should i be considering for the respective courses?

[BaBu]

I would differ a bit from Babu as far as the “analyst jobs being outsourced to India” and “spending money” part of the discussion is concerned.

My take: Agreed that analyst jobs are decreasing in US owing to success of the KPO/Captive units here in India and to top it, the financial mess in these IBanks will force them to further cost-cuts and outsource jobs to India but the fact is that these jobs are mainly for equity research/trading assistance/back-office documentation etc and as far as I know, such jobs are not the be all and end-all activities in Ibanks.

In a typical IBank, there are many many specialist positions for arbitraging/structuring (across asset classes)/quantitative analysis/hedging etc which require study of specialist subjects and MFE/MS (Quantitative Finance) score over the traditional qualifications in such situations.

Hence, I have always stressed the need for specializations and building specialized skill sets and specialized education such as courses mentioned above come in handy for the purpose.

For whatever of a bomb they may cost, they are worth their weight in gold because if you look at the placements that the graduates of these courses generate, then you will actually come to know how prestigious these courses are. Hence, I would advise you to lay your bets on specialized courses because there are always options for a generalization.

Hope this helps. Feel free to discuss more!

Babu, correct me if Im wrong or if you think differently.

Regards,

Tumtum.

Well said Tumtum. The courses which you mentioned are highly specialised and they are reputed courses. I dont think the skillsets of those courses are getting outsourced to India. Financial engineering will be affected to certain extent due to subprime issue as i was reading an article that the first axe will cut financial engineers who sliced the mortgages in different tranches.

Ms finance/CFA skillset is definately getting outsourced from US and UK. Entry level analyst work (valuation, comps, data search, profiling etc) is getting outsourced which means lesser openings for general finance graduates.

Sometimes, when i see the job profiles of certain high end KPO companies like Pipal Research it suprises me. They are expecting candidates to do DCF modelling and other relative and absolute valuation in excel sheets. Thats certainly a full fledged analyst role.

meetvabby- You need to take outsourcing and US recession in mind. The choice of course and university is an important aspect. LSE has a ms finance 1 year program but then it is highly reputed program and outsourcing or no outsourcing, graduates will get some sort of opening in London.

On the other other hand, many UK universities offers 1 year msc finance program and i know 2 students who came back to India after studying msc from UK. Better option as Tumtum advised would be to do CFA to learn general skills at a fraction of University cost.

[meetvabby]

I have enquired about Msc Finanace and most of them suggested that it has no value compared to an MBA...atleast if u r looking for job prospects outside India. Also I am not a big fan of UK as many of them have faced work permit issues and it is really tough to get a job in UK for an international student. I am thinking about MS Finance as I expect the course similar in lines with MBA. I want a general picture for MS Finance and similar courses like MS Quantitative Finance(as tumtum suggested) and whether my choice of pursuing MS Finance degree in case I am not able to secure admission in a good MBA college a wise decision? I am therefore trying to get a general scenario of how the job scenario is (if we leave out recession as it is bound to affect the nos. I feel its more like the stock market with the recession cycle being repeated after certain interval an though the stock market is more volatile) for an international student in USA.

[ravishah17]

Hi anything new found on MS(Finance)? I heard someone say that prospects of MS(Finance) from USA are bleak.. what is the basis for it?